Monday, April 09, 2012

"Poor America" reveals that social mobility in USA is lower than in many European and Asian countries

By Kevin Anthony Stoda

This is must see and share 30 minute documentary on poverty in 2012 America.

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I was struck by how important this documentary by the BBC on poverty in America is. It provides a great mirror of America Inc. for all Americans, including myself, to reflect upon.

Try and watch: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01c2y2b

Synopsis: "With one and a half million American children now homeless, reporter Hilary Andersson meets the school pupils who go hungry in the richest country on Earth. From those living in the storm drains under Las Vegas to the tent cities now springing up around the United States, Panorama finds out how the poor are surviving in America and asks whatever happened to Barack Obama's vision for the country."

In the documentary, you meet a child whose mom is forced to eat a rat due to hunger. There is a man who is facing gangrene but fleeing from a hospital because of the expected medical bill. This is America of our day-and-age. Yet, political and media voices are shouting down the essential need to change economic and social (and political) practices in the USA.

I have lived abroad most of the past three decades because of the lack of opportunity and social mobility their. (There are certainly a few other reasons, too, but with tens of millions of Americans forced to work or live abroad each year, my choice to work abroad is as forced by the political-economic and social system there as any other ex-pat emigre.)